Sustainability

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is working hard to reduce the Fringe’s impact on the environment.

The Fringe Blueprint states eight firm commitments that we’re pursuing ahead of the Fringe’s 75th anniversary in 2022. Among those commitments are a range of measures to reduce the festival’s carbon footprint and champion initiatives that limit our impact on the environment.

Many of those measures are already underway:

• We’re working to reduce the number of printed programmes we produce – we printed 350,000 in 2019, a reduction of 45,000 from 2017. We’re also placing more of an emphasis on digital solutions so that we can reduce the print run further.
• We provide several free services to help participants reduce their waste at the end of the Fringe, including:
  • a ‘swap shop’ service for unwanted props, sets and costumes
  • a paper recycling drop-off for unused flyers and promotional materials
  • a food bank donation point for any unused foodstuffs.
• We’re working to develop a digital ticketing solution that will work for every single one of the wide variety of venues that take part in the Fringe, from concert halls and conference centres to walking tours and basement spaces; in the meantime, we’ve ensured that our ticket stock is 100% recyclable.
• We’ve produced the Fringe Guide to Sustainability and, in partnership with Creative Carbon Scotland, the Green Arts Portal, both of which give advice and resources to artists and venues that want to work more sustainably.
• We also encourage audiences to think about what they can do to help make the Fringe more sustainable.

These broader aims are informed by the Fringe Society’s Environmental Policy (.pdf download).